Ass Backwards (2013)

This year saw one of the very finest half-hour comedies of the decade suffer an early cancellation, apparently because too many people prefer the lazily recycled mouth-breather pap that Chuck Lorre jerks off into America’s eyeballs on a weekly basis.

Stands for “Chuck Bukkakes Slothfully” Look it up.

That show was Happy Endings, and while Adam Pally got an Iron Man 3 cameo, Damon Wayans Jr. limped back to New Girl, Eliza Coupe is lining up like five new pilots, Elisha Cuthbert is busy being stunningly, effortlessly gorgeous somewhere, and Zachary Knighton presumably is breathing, Casey Wilson teamed up with buddy June Diane Raphael (Sarah Jessica Raphael? Her name confuses and frightens me) on Ass Backwards.

These two wrote and star in this timeless tale of two children’s beauty pageant runners-up who never grew out of that stage, and are about as clueless and delusional as you’d expect that to make you. When they hear tell of an anniversary adult pageant pitting them against their former rivals, the state is set for a mad-cap roadtrip back to their hometown.

A Toast

Let’s get something clear here first. This is a female Dumb & Dumber. If that’s not your style, you may exit the line here. Wilson and Raphael are fearlessly committed to their characters, and the results are often bizarre, uncomfortable, and quite funny.

And surprisingly apropos of the title.

Their little girl doppelgangers used in the flashbacks are straight hilarious, and you can’t argue with a bevy of cameos from Paul Scheer, to Bob Oedenkirk, to Jon Cryer (okay, argue with that one if you like).

Beer Two

The humor here is pretty broad, and pretty one-note. More of it misses than hits, honestly.

Beer Three

That may be because so much of it is predicated on being as squirmingly awkward as humanly possible. The leading ladies show some serious, ummm, ovaries in their performances, but it’s a bit much at times. Actually, let’s go with “birth canals.” What happens there is way more hardcore than anything balls ever got mixed up in.

Beer Four

Not that you’re looking for an Oscar-caliber script or anything for this type of film, but the story is purely a joke delivery vehicle, with the same friendship, hateship, bestfriendship arc you’ve seen a million times.

Verdict

There’s no hurry whatsoever on this one, but if you happen to catch it sometime or need something to tide you over until Dumb & Dumber 2, this has enough laughs to do the trick.